U.S. patent application number 14/336988 was filed with the patent office on 2015-01-29 for displaying content of an enterprise social network feed on a mobile device.
The applicant listed for this patent is salesforce.com, inc.. Invention is credited to Alexandre Dayon, Anna Bonner Mieritz, Scott Peter Perket, Richard L. Spencer, II, Lorne Keith Trudeau, Craig Villamor.
Application Number | 20150032688 14/336988 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 52391352 |
Filed Date | 2015-01-29 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150032688 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Dayon; Alexandre ; et
al. |
January 29, 2015 |
DISPLAYING CONTENT OF AN ENTERPRISE SOCIAL NETWORK FEED ON A MOBILE
DEVICE
Abstract
Disclosed are methods, systems, and computer program products
for displaying content of an enterprise social network feed on a
mobile device. In some implementations, a server receives a request
to display a parent container feed associated with a parent object
in a hierarchical model of objects stored in a database of an
on-demand service environment. The server identifies, based a
plurality of criteria, a first plurality of information updates
associated with a first child object having a child relationship
with the parent object. The server also identifies a second
plurality of information updates associated with the parent object.
The server generates a first set of feed items comprising the first
plurality of information updates and a second set of feed items
comprising the second plurality of information updates. The server
provides for display on a mobile device the first and second sets
of feed items in the parent container feed.
Inventors: |
Dayon; Alexandre; (Paris,
FR) ; Mieritz; Anna Bonner; (Moss Beach, CA) ;
Perket; Scott Peter; (San Francisco, CA) ; Spencer,
II; Richard L.; (Seattle, WA) ; Trudeau; Lorne
Keith; (Bainbridge Island, WA) ; Villamor; Craig;
(San Mateo, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
salesforce.com, inc. |
San Francisco |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
52391352 |
Appl. No.: |
14/336988 |
Filed: |
July 21, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61858943 |
Jul 26, 2013 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
707/609 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 16/951 20190101;
G06Q 10/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
707/609 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/30 20060101
G06F017/30 |
Claims
1. A system for displaying content of an enterprise social network
feed on a mobile device, the system comprising: one or more
processors operable to: receive a request to display a parent
container feed associated with a parent object in a hierarchical
model of objects stored in a database of an on-demand service
environment, the parent container feed configured to include both
feed items identifying information updates associated with the
parent object and feed items identifying information updates
associated with one or more child objects related to the parent
object in the hierarchical model, the parent container feed capable
of being displayed on a display of the mobile device; identify,
based on one or more of a plurality of criteria, a first plurality
of information updates associated with a first child object having
a child relationship with the parent object in the hierarchical
model; identify a second plurality of information updates
associated with the parent object; generate a first set of feed
items comprising the first plurality of information updates;
generate a second set of feed items comprising the second plurality
of information updates; and provide for display on the mobile
device the first set of feed items and the second set of feed items
in the parent container feed.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein an information update includes
one or more of: a change in a property of the first child object,
creation of the first child object, or deletion of the first child
object.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein a feed item includes one or more
indicators configured to graphically differentiate the feed item
from other feed items in the parent container feed.
4. The system of claim 1, the one or more processors further
operable to: receive a selection of a first child feed item, the
first child feed item having a collapsed view; provide for display
an expanded view of the first child feed item, the expanded view
identifying one or more additional information updates not
appearing in the collapsed view.
5. The system of claim 1, the one or more processors further
operable to: receive a selection of a first child feed item; and
provide for display a child feed including only child feed items
identifying information updates associated with the first child
object.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein a first child feed item includes
one or more create commands, the one or more processors further
operable to: receive a request via a create command to create a
second child object related to the first child object from the
parent container feed; and create the second child object, the
second child object including one or more attributes determined
based on the information in the request to create the second child
object.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the criteria indicate one or more
of: a position, a role, or a personalization setting.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the criteria identifies a
property of the first child object, the one criterion being
satisfied when an information update indicates a change to the
identified property.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein a further one of the criteria
identifies a threshold value for changes to the identified
property, the further criterion being satisfied when the change to
the identified property meets or exceeds the threshold value.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein one criterion of the criteria
identifies a child object type, the one criterion being satisfied
for a set of child objects where at least one information update
indicates an action on a child object having the child object
type.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein the criteria indicate one or
more of: a timestamp of an information update, a range of
timestamps of information updates, a count of information updates,
a type of information updates, an author of an information update,
a count of published comments associated with an information
update, or a count of shares of an information update.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the parent container feed
comprises one of: an account container feed, an opportunity
container feed, a contact container feed, a lead container feed, a
case container feed, a report container feed, a task container
feed, an event container feed, a dashboard container feed, and an
asset container feed.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein the first child object has a
child relationship with only the parent object in the hierarchical
model.
14. The system of claim 1, wherein the first child object has a
child relationship with a plurality of parent objects in the
hierarchical model.
15. A method for displaying content of an enterprise social network
feed on a mobile device, the method comprising: receiving a request
to display a parent container feed associated with a parent object
in a hierarchical model of objects stored in a database of an
on-demand service environment, the parent container feed configured
to include both feed items identifying information updates
associated with the parent object and feed items identifying
information updates associated with one or more child objects
related to the parent object in the hierarchical model, the parent
container feed capable of being displayed on a display of the
mobile device; identifying, based on one or more of a plurality of
criteria, a first plurality of information updates associated with
a first child object having a child relationship with the parent
object in the hierarchical model; identifying a second plurality of
information updates associated with the parent object; generating a
first set of feed items comprising the first plurality of
information updates; generating a second set of feed items
comprising the second plurality of information updates; and
providing for display on the mobile device the first set of feed
items and the second set of feed items in the parent container
feed.
16. The method of claim 15, the method further comprising:
receiving a selection of a first child feed item, the first child
feed item having a collapsed view; and providing for display an
expanded view of the first child feed item, the expanded view
identifying one or more additional information updates not
appearing in the collapsed view.
17. The method of claim 15, the method further comprising:
receiving a selection of a first child feed item; and providing for
display a child feed including only child feed items identifying
information updates associated with the first child object.
18. A computer program product comprising computer-readable program
code to be executed by one or more processors when retrieved from a
non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program code including
instructions configured to cause: receiving a request to display a
parent container feed associated with a parent object in a
hierarchical model of objects stored in a database of an on-demand
service environment, the parent container feed configured to
include both feed items identifying information updates associated
with the parent object and feed items identifying information
updates associated with one or more child objects related to the
parent object in the hierarchical model, the parent container feed
capable of being displayed on a display of the mobile device;
identifying, based on one or more of a plurality of criteria, a
first plurality of information updates associated with a first
child object having a child relationship with the parent object in
the hierarchical model; identifying a second plurality of
information updates associated with the parent object; generating a
first set of feed items comprising the first plurality of
information updates; generating a second set of feed items
comprising the second plurality of information updates; and
providing for display on the mobile device the first set of feed
items and the second set of feed items in the parent container
feed.
19. The computer program product of claim 18, the program code
further including instructions configured to cause: receiving a
selection of a first child feed item, the first child feed item
having a collapsed view; and providing for display an expanded view
of the first child feed item, the expanded view identifying one or
more additional information updates not appearing in the collapsed
view.
20. The computer program product of claim 18, the program code
further including instructions configured to cause: receiving a
selection of a first child feed item; and providing for display a
child feed including only child feed items identifying information
updates associated with the first child object.
Description
PRIORITY DATA
[0001] This patent document claims priority to co-pending and
commonly assigned U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.
61/858,943, titled "Rolling Up Related Feeds," by Dayon et al.,
filed on Jul. 26, 2013 (Attorney Docket No. 1200PROV), which is
hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and for all
purposes.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
[0002] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains
material, which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright
owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of
the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the
Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise
reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0003] This patent document relates generally to on-demand services
provided over a data network such as the Internet, and more
specifically to displaying, in an enterprise social network feed,
information updates associated with related objects stored in a
database.
BACKGROUND
[0004] Organizations typically employ many different types of
software and computing technologies to meet their computing needs.
However, installing and maintaining software on an organization's
own computer systems may involve one or more drawbacks. For
example, when software must be installed on computer systems within
the organization, the installation process often requires
significant time commitments, since organization personnel may need
to separately access each computer. Once installed, the maintenance
of such software typically requires significant additional
resources. Each installation of the software may need to be
separately monitored, upgraded, and/or maintained. Further,
organization personnel may need to protect each installed piece of
software against viruses and other malevolent code. Given the
difficulties in updating and maintaining software installed on many
different computer systems, it is common for software to become
outdated. Also, the organization will likely need to ensure that
the various software programs installed on each computer system are
compatible. Compatibility problems are compounded by frequent
upgrading, which may result in different versions of the same
software being used at different computer systems in the same
organization.
[0005] Accordingly, organizations increasingly prefer to use
on-demand services accessible via the Internet rather than software
installed on in-house computer systems. On-demand services, often
termed "cloud computing" services, take advantage of increased
network speeds and decreased network latency to provide shared
resources, software, and information to computers and other devices
upon request. Cloud computing typically involves over-the-Internet
provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources.
Technological details can be abstracted from the users, who no
longer have need for expertise in, or control over, the technology
infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] The included drawings are for illustrative purposes and
serve only to provide examples of possible structures and
operations for the disclosed inventive systems, apparatus, methods
and computer program products. These drawings in no way limit any
changes in form and detail that may be made by one skilled in the
art without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosed
implementations.
[0007] FIG. 1A shows a block diagram of an example of an
environment 10 in which an on-demand database service can be used
in accordance with some implementations.
[0008] FIG. 1B shows a block diagram of an example of some
implementations of elements of FIG. 1A and various possible
interconnections between these elements.
[0009] FIG. 2A shows a system diagram illustrating an example of
architectural components of an on-demand database service
environment 200 according to some implementations.
[0010] FIG. 2B shows a system diagram further illustrating an
example of architectural components of an on-demand database
service environment according to some implementations.
[0011] FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example of a computer
implemented method 300 for displaying content of an enterprise
social network feed on a mobile device, according to some
implementations.
[0012] FIGS. 4A-4C show flowcharts of examples of computer
implemented methods 430A-430C for receiving a selection in
accordance with method 330, according to some implementations.
[0013] FIG. 5 shows an example of a graphical user interface (GUI)
displaying an account container feed, according to some
implementations.
[0014] FIGS. 6A-6E show examples of expanded views of individual
feed items of an account container feed, according to some
implementations.
[0015] FIG. 7 shows an example of a GUI 700 displaying an
opportunity feed, according to some implementations.
[0016] FIGS. 8A-8D show examples of expanded views of individual
feed items of an opportunity feed, according to some
implementations.
[0017] FIGS. 9A and 9B show examples of GUIs displaying information
updates for an object of an on-demand service environment,
according to some implementations.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0018] Examples of systems, apparatus, methods and computer program
products according to the disclosed implementations are described
in this section. These examples are being provided solely to add
context and aid in the understanding of the disclosed
implementations. It will thus be apparent to one skilled in the art
that implementations may be practiced without some or all of these
specific details. In other instances, certain process/method
operations, also referred to herein as "blocks," have not been
described in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring
implementations. Other applications are possible, such that the
following examples should not be taken as definitive or limiting
either in scope or setting.
[0019] In the following detailed description, references are made
to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of the description
and in which are shown, by way of illustration, specific
implementations. Although these implementations are described in
sufficient detail to enable one skilled in the art to practice the
disclosed implementations, it is understood that these examples are
not limiting, such that other implementations may be used and
changes may be made without departing from their spirit and scope.
For example, the blocks of methods shown and described herein are
not necessarily performed in the order indicated. It should also be
understood that the methods may include more or fewer blocks than
are indicated. In some implementations, blocks described herein as
separate blocks may be combined. Conversely, what may be described
herein as a single block may be implemented in multiple blocks.
[0020] Various implementations described or referenced herein are
directed to different methods, apparatus, systems, and computer
program products for displaying content of an enterprise social
network feed on a mobile device. The feed may be associated with an
on-demand service environment, which can include various online
business services and enterprise social networking services.
[0021] Enterprise social networking systems are increasingly
becoming a common way to facilitate communication among people, any
of whom can be recognized as users of a social networking system.
One example of an enterprise social networking system is
Chatter.RTM., provided by salesforce.com, inc. of San Francisco,
Calif. salesforce.com, inc. is a provider of social networking
services, customer relationship management (CRM) services and other
database management services, any of which can be accessed and used
in conjunction with the techniques disclosed herein in some
implementations. These various services can be provided in a cloud
computing environment, for example, in the context of a
multi-tenant database system. Thus, the disclosed techniques can be
implemented without having to install software locally, that is, on
computing devices of users interacting with services available
through the cloud. While the disclosed implementations are often
described with reference to Chatter.RTM., those skilled in the art
should understand that the disclosed techniques are neither limited
to Chatter.RTM. nor to any other services and systems provided by
salesforce.com, inc. and can be implemented in the context of
various other database systems and/or social networking systems
such as Facebook.RTM., LinkedIn.RTM., Twitter.RTM., Google+.RTM.,
Yammer.RTM. and Jive.RTM. by way of example only.
[0022] Some enterprise social networking systems can be implemented
in various settings, including organizations. For instance, an
enterprise social networking system can be implemented to connect
users within an enterprise such as a company or business
partnership, or a group of users within such an organization. For
instance, Chatter.RTM. can be used by employee users in a division
of a business organization to share data, communicate, and
collaborate with each other for various social purposes often
involving the business of the organization. In the example of a
multi-tenant database system, each organization or group within the
organization can be a respective tenant of the system, as described
in greater detail below.
[0023] In some enterprise social networking systems, users can
access one or more enterprise social network feeds, which include
information updates presented as items or entries in the feed. Such
a feed item can include a single information update or a collection
of individual information updates. A feed item can include various
types of data including character-based data, audio data, image
data and/or video data. An enterprise social network feed can be
displayed in a graphical user interface (GUI) on a display device
such as the display of a computing device as described below. The
information updates can include various social network data from
various sources and can be stored in an on-demand database service
environment. In some implementations, the disclosed methods,
apparatus, systems, and computer-readable storage media may be
configured or designed for use in a multi-tenant database
environment.
[0024] In some implementations, an enterprise social networking
system may allow a user to follow data objects in the form of
records such as cases, accounts, or opportunities, in addition to
following individual users and groups of users. The "following" of
a record stored in a database, as described in greater detail
below, allows a user to track the progress of that record. Updates
to the record, also referred to herein as changes to the record,
are one type of information update that can occur and be noted on
an enterprise social network feed such as a record feed or a news
feed of a user subscribed to the record. Examples of record updates
include field changes in the record, updates to the status of a
record, as well as the creation of the record itself. Some records
are publicly accessible, such that any user can follow the record,
while other records are private, for which appropriate security
clearance/permissions are a prerequisite to a user following the
record.
[0025] Information updates can include various types of updates,
which may or may not be linked with a particular record. For
example, information updates can be user-submitted messages or can
otherwise be generated in response to user actions or in response
to events. Examples of messages include: posts, comments,
indications of a user's personal preferences such as "likes" and
"dislikes", updates to a user's status, uploaded files, and
user-submitted hyperlinks to social network data or other network
data such as various documents and/or web pages on the Internet.
Posts can include alpha-numeric or other character-based user
inputs such as words, phrases, statements, questions, emotional
expressions, and/or symbols. Comments generally refer to responses
to posts or to other information updates, such as words, phrases,
statements, answers, questions, and reactionary emotional
expressions and/or symbols. Multimedia data can be included in,
linked with, or attached to a post or comment. For example, a post
can include textual statements in combination with a JPEG image or
animated image. A like or dislike can be submitted in response to a
particular post or comment. Examples of uploaded files include
presentations, documents, multimedia files, and the like.
[0026] Users can follow a record by subscribing to the record, as
mentioned above. Users can also follow other entities such as other
types of data objects, other users, and groups of users. Feed
tracked updates regarding such entities are one type of information
update that can be received and included in the user's news feed.
Any number of users can follow a particular entity and thus view
information updates pertaining to that entity on the users'
respective news feeds. In some social networks, users may follow
each other by establishing connections with each other, sometimes
referred to as "friending" one another. By establishing such a
connection, one user may be able to see information generated by,
generated about, or otherwise associated with another user. For
instance, a first user may be able to see information posted by a
second user to the second user's personal social network page. One
implementation of such a personal social network page is a user's
profile page, for example, in the form of a web page representing
the user's profile. In one example, when the first user is
following the second user, the first user's news feed can receive a
post from the second user submitted to the second user's profile
feed. A user's profile feed is also referred to herein as the
user's "wall," which is one example of an enterprise social network
feed displayed on the user's profile page.
[0027] In some implementations, an enterprise social network feed
may be specific to a group of users of an enterprise social
networking system. For instance, a group of users may publish a
news feed. Members of the group may view and post to this group
feed in accordance with a permissions configuration for the feed
and the group. Information updates in a group context can also
include changes to group status information.
[0028] In some implementations, when data such as posts or comments
input from one or more users are submitted to an enterprise social
network feed for a particular user, group, object, or other
construct within an enterprise social networking system, an email
notification or other type of network communication may be
transmitted to all users following the user, group, or object in
addition to the inclusion of the data as a feed item in one or more
feeds, such as a user's profile feed, a news feed, or a record
feed. In some enterprise social networking systems, the occurrence
of such a notification is limited to the first instance of a
published input, which may form part of a larger conversation. For
instance, a notification may be transmitted for an initial post,
but not for comments on the post. In some other implementations, a
separate notification is transmitted for each such information
update.
[0029] Typically, content stored outside of an on-demand database
service may be difficult to access from the on-demand database
service and may be limited to having to move, replicate, or provide
a hyperlink to the content. In addition, access to such content may
be limited as various data repositories have different APIs for
access and authentication requirements. Furthermore, various
content files and folders may be scattered across a plurality of
different data sources. Thus, users may be limited in their ability
to access, collaborate on, share, modify, comment on, search, view,
and otherwise interact with content stored in external data sources
in an on-demand database service.
[0030] Some on-demand service environments such as those
implementing enterprise social networking systems utilize feeds for
delivering information about records. For example, in Chatter.RTM.,
a user can follow other users and records which are being worked on
by users such that changes to the records, notifications of
interactions with the records, and user commentary regarding the
records and other topics may be viewed in an enterprise social
network feed. Such feeds are accessible by users of mobile devices
such as smartphones and tablets, desktop computers, and so forth.
Collaborative tools such as Chatter.RTM. have enabled users to
share and consume information in a social manner. With the
proliferation of information and records that can be presented in a
feed, it is desirable to present users with the most relevant and
helpful feed content without requiring the user to waste time and
energy searching for information. Because most feed items are
displayed in a user's news feed based on whether the viewing user
has "followed" other users, accounts, contacts, files, leads, etc.
among other types of objects, important and other relevant feed
items may be lost amongst the other feed items.
[0031] In an on-demand service environment, such as in a sales
force automation (SFA) application, database objects in the form of
custom objects, standard Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
objects such as accounts, opportunities, leads, cases and contacts,
as well as other types of objects such as groups, files, etc., may
have dedicated feeds for users to collaborate with each other
regarding the particular object. In a feed dedicated to a
particular object, e.g. an account feed associated with a
particular customer account named Acme, Inc., feed items may be
generated and displayed when the particular object is updated or
certain fields of the particular object are changed.
[0032] Users of an on-demand service environment may be provided
with different types of feeds having relevant content published to
them. A "home" feed may be a default news feed for a user, such
that feed items pertaining to the records, other users, groups and
other entities that the user is following appear in the home feed.
A summary feed item in a home feed may display a collection of
updates for a particular account. Tapping on the summary feed item,
for instance, by a user touching a selection on a touch
screen-equipped smartphone, may cause the account feed dedicated to
that account to be displayed. Alternatively, tapping on the summary
feed item may cause a container feed for the account to be
displayed. The account container feed may include feed items
displaying updates for the account, as well as feed items
displaying updates for other objects associated with the account in
the on-demand service environment. The other objects may be an
opportunity or a contact, by way of example only. While a dedicated
account feed for an account displays updates to the particular
account, it may not display updates for other objects that are
associated with the account. For a user viewing, say, an account
feed for Acme, Inc., it may be desirable for the user to be able to
view updates to opportunities that are related to the Acme, Inc.
account in feed items alongside other feed items that display
updates to the Acme, Inc. account.
[0033] In an on-demand service environment incorporating one or
more databases, objects stored in a database may be identified as
being related to each other. For example, opportunities may be
associated with an account, and leads can be associated with an
opportunity. In some implementations, database objects are arranged
in a hierarchical data model such that opportunities, leads, cases,
and other CRM records may be child objects of a parent object such
as an account and thus be at least indirectly related to one
another by virtue of being linked with the same account.
[0034] In some of the disclosed implementations, updates associated
with a child object, such as a lead or an opportunity, may be
"rolled up" into a container feed for a parent object such as an
account associated with the child object, and displayed in feed
items of the container feed. For example, when viewing an account
container feed for a customer organization named General
Electric.RTM. ("GE"), the GE account container feed may include
feed items displaying updates for child objects of the GE account,
such as open opportunities, leads, and cases related to the GE
account. In some instances, the GE account container feed may also
include feed items from related accounts which have pointers or
other indicia identifying the GE account. In some implementations,
a user may filter the GE account container feed by selecting which
updates for a type of child object, such as opportunities, should
be displayed and/or prioritized within the GE account container
feed. In some implementations, filters and criteria such as
popularity metrics may be used to determine which updates for a
child object should be displayed in the parent container feed.
[0035] In some implementations, the user may also conveniently
establish links or other associations among related objects using
quick-create actions in a content publisher of the container feed.
These actions may be customized for the specific container feed
being viewed. In some implementations, an administrator may
customize the quick-create actions that are accessible from the
feed. In some other implementations, quick-create actions may be
predetermined based on the type of container feed being viewed.
[0036] When an account container feed is displayed on a mobile
device, by way of example, the account container feed may include
feed items indicating updates on records associated with the
account, such as an opportunity that is a child of the parent
account. Upon selection of one of the feed items displayed in the
account container feed, the feed item may expand to display more
detailed information about the opportunity, such as one or more
action items for the opportunity created by other users of the
on-demand service environment. In some implementations, the action
items may be one or more tasks assigned to be performed by a user
with regard to the opportunity. The feed item may include a list of
the one or more tasks grouped into the single feed item. Selection
of the tasks list feed item may provide additional details for the
tasks.
[0037] In another implementation, the account container feed may
display a "hero post" feed item that highlights a particular update
related to a child opportunity linked with the parent account. For
example, a value for an opportunity related to the account may have
been changed to $10,000,000. The hero post feed item may be
generated if the update meets a designated threshold, such as an
opportunity value of greater than or equal to $1,000,000, or some
other threshold. The hero post may be graphically accentuated with
a bright color that distinguishes it from other content in the
feed, by way of example. The thresholds and graphical
representations of the hero post feed item may be customized by
administrators or users in some implementations. When the hero post
is selected, the feed item may expand to display one or more
updates associated with the hero post. In addition to providing
content display within the hero post for the opportunity in the
account container feed, various implementations may also allow a
user to navigate from the account container feed to the child
opportunity feed associated with the hero post by selecting the
hero post displayed in the account container feed.
[0038] These and other implementations may be embodied in various
types of hardware, software, firmware, and combinations thereof.
For example, some techniques disclosed herein may be implemented,
at least in part, by computer-readable media that include program
instructions, state information, etc., for performing various
services and operations described herein. Examples of program
instructions include both machine code, such as produced by a
compiler, and files containing higher-level code that may be
executed by a computing device such as a server or other data
processing apparatus using an interpreter. Examples of
computer-readable media include, but are not limited to, magnetic
media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical
media such as CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical media; and hardware
devices that are specially configured to store program
instructions, such as read-only memory ("ROM") devices and random
access memory ("RAM") devices. These and other features of the
disclosed implementations will be described in more detail below
with reference to the associated drawings.
[0039] The term "multi-tenant database system" can refer to those
systems in which various elements of hardware and software of a
database system may be shared by one or more customers. For
example, a given application server may simultaneously process
requests for a great number of customers, and a given database
table may store rows of data such as feed items for a potentially
much greater number of customers. The term "query plan" generally
refers to one or more operations used to access information in a
database system.
[0040] A "user profile" or "user's profile" is generally configured
to store and maintain data about a given user of the database
system. The data can include general information, such as name,
title, phone number, a photo, a biographical summary, and a status,
e.g., text describing what the user is currently doing. As
mentioned below, the data can include messages created by other
users. Where there are multiple tenants, a user is typically
associated with a particular tenant. For example, a user could be a
salesperson of a company, which is a tenant of the database system
that provides a database service.
[0041] The term "record" generally refers to a data entity, such as
an instance of a data object created by a user of the database
service, for example, about a particular (actual or potential)
business relationship or project. The data object can have a data
structure defined by the database service (a standard object) or
defined by a user (custom object). For example, a record can be for
a business partner or potential business partner (e.g., a client,
vendor, distributor, etc.) of the user, and can include information
describing an entire company, subsidiaries, or contacts at the
company. As another example, a record can be a project that the
user is working on, such as an opportunity (e.g., a possible sale)
with an existing partner, or a project that the user is trying to
get. In one implementation of a multi-tenant database system, each
record for the tenants has a unique identifier stored in a common
table. A record has data fields that are defined by the structure
of the object (e.g., fields of certain data types and purposes). A
record can also have custom fields defined by a user. A field can
be another record or include links thereto, thereby providing a
parent-child relationship between the records.
[0042] The terms "enterprise social network feed" and "feed" are
used interchangeably herein and generally refer to a combination
(e.g., a list) of feed items or entries with various types of
information and data. Such feed items can be stored and maintained
in one or more database tables, e.g., as rows in the table(s), that
can be accessed to retrieve relevant information to be presented as
part of a displayed feed. The term "feed item" (or feed element)
refers to an item of information, which can be presented in the
feed such as a post submitted by a user. Feed items of information
about a user can be presented in a user's profile feed of the
database, while feed items of information about a record can be
presented in a record feed in the database, by way of example. A
profile feed and a record feed are examples of different enterprise
social network feeds. A second user following a first user and a
record can receive the feed items associated with the first user
and the record for display in the second user's news feed, which is
another type of enterprise social network feed. In some
implementations, the feed items from any number of followed users
and records can be combined into a single enterprise social network
feed of a particular user.
[0043] As examples, a feed item can be a message, such as a
user-generated post of text data, and a feed tracked update to a
record or profile, such as a change to a field of the record. Feed
tracked updates are described in greater detail below. A feed can
be a combination of messages and feed tracked updates. Messages
include text created by a user, and may include other data as well.
Examples of messages include posts, user status updates, and
comments. Messages can be created for a user's profile or for a
record. Posts can be created by various users, potentially any
user, although some restrictions can be applied. As an example,
posts can be made to a wall section of a user's profile page (which
can include a number of recent posts) or a section of a record that
includes multiple posts. The posts can be organized in
chronological order when displayed in a graphical user interface
(GUI), for instance, on the user's profile page, as part of the
user's profile feed. In contrast to a post, a user status update
changes a status of a user and can be made by that user or an
administrator. A record can also have a status, the update of which
can be provided by an owner of the record or other users having
suitable write access permissions to the record. The owner can be a
single user, multiple users, or a group. In one implementation,
there is only one status for a record.
[0044] In some implementations, a comment can be made on any feed
item. In some implementations, comments are organized as a list
explicitly tied to a particular feed tracked update, post, or
status update. In some implementations, comments may not be listed
in the first layer (in a hierarchal sense) of feed items, but
listed as a second layer branching from a particular first layer
feed item.
[0045] A "feed tracked update," also referred to herein as a "feed
update," is one type of information update and generally refers to
data representing an event. A feed tracked update can include text
generated by the database system in response to the event, to be
provided as one or more feed items for possible inclusion in one or
more feeds. In one implementation, the data can initially be
stored, and then the database system can later use the data to
create text for describing the event. Both the data and/or the text
can be a feed tracked update, as used herein. In various
implementations, an event can be an update of a record and/or can
be triggered by a specific action by a user. Which actions trigger
an event can be configurable. Which events have feed tracked
updates created and which feed updates are sent to which users can
also be configurable. Messages and feed updates can be stored as a
field or child object of the record. For example, the feed can be
stored as a child object of the record.
[0046] A "group" is generally a collection of users. In some
implementations, the group may be defined as users with a same or
similar attribute, or by membership. In some implementations, a
"group feed", also referred to herein as a "group news feed",
includes one or more feed items about any user in the group. In
some implementations, the group feed also includes information
updates and other feed items that are about the group as a whole,
the group's purpose, the group's description, and group records and
other objects stored in association with the group. Threads of
information updates including group record updates and messages,
such as posts, comments, likes, etc., can define group
conversations and change over time.
[0047] An "entity feed" or "record feed" generally refers to a feed
of feed items about a particular record in the database, such as
feed tracked updates about changes to the record and posts made by
users about the record. An entity feed can be composed of any type
of feed item. Such a feed can be displayed on a page such as a web
page associated with the record, e.g., a home page of the record.
As used herein, a "profile feed" or "user's profile feed" is a feed
of feed items about a particular user. In one example, the feed
items for a profile feed include posts and comments that other
users make about or send to the particular user, and status updates
made by the particular user. Such a profile feed can be displayed
on a page associated with the particular user. In another example,
feed items in a profile feed could include posts made by the
particular user and feed tracked updates initiated based on actions
of the particular user.
[0048] I. General Overview
[0049] Systems, apparatus, and methods are provided for
implementing enterprise level social and business information
networking. Such implementations can provide more efficient use of
a database system. For instance, a user of a database system may
not easily know when important information in the database has
changed, e.g., about a project or client. Implementations can
provide feed tracked updates about such changes and other events,
thereby keeping users informed.
[0050] By way of example, a user can update a record, e.g., an
opportunity such as a possible sale of 1000 computers. Once the
record update has been made, a feed tracked update about the record
update can then automatically be provided, e.g., in a feed, to
anyone subscribing to the opportunity or to the user. Thus, the
user does not need to contact a manager regarding the change in the
opportunity, since the feed tracked update about the update is sent
via a feed right to the manager's feed page or other page.
[0051] Next, mechanisms and methods for providing systems
implementing enterprise level social and business information
networking will be described with reference to several
implementations. First, an overview of an example of a database
system is described, and then examples of tracking events for a
record, actions of a user, and messages about a user or record are
described. Various implementations about the data structure of
feeds, customizing feeds, user selection of records and users to
follow, generating feeds, and displaying feeds are also
described.
[0052] II. System Overview
[0053] FIG. 1A shows a block diagram of an example of an
environment 10 in which an on-demand database service can be used
in accordance with some implementations. Environment 10 may include
user systems 12, network 14, database system 16, processor system
17, application platform 18, network interface 20, tenant data
storage 22, system data storage 24, program code 26, and process
space 28. In other implementations, environment 10 may not have all
of these components and/or may have other components instead of, or
in addition to, those listed above.
[0054] Environment 10 is an environment in which an on-demand
database service exists. User system 12 may be implemented as any
computing device(s) or other data processing apparatus such as a
machine or system that is used by a user to access a database
system 16. For example, any of user systems 12 can be a handheld
computing device, a mobile phone, a laptop computer, a work
station, and/or a network of such computing devices. As illustrated
in FIG. 1A (and in more detail in FIG. 1B) user systems 12 might
interact via a network 14 with an on-demand database service, which
is implemented in the example of FIG. 1A as database system 16.
[0055] An on-demand database service, implemented using system 16
by way of example, is a service that is made available to outside
users, who do not need to necessarily be concerned with building
and/or maintaining the database system. Instead, the database
system may be available for their use when the users need the
database system, i.e., on the demand of the users. Some on-demand
database services may store information from one or more tenants
into tables of a common database image to form a multi-tenant
database system (MTS). A database image may include one or more
database objects. A relational database management system (RDBMS)
or the equivalent may execute storage and retrieval of information
against the database object(s). Application platform 18 may be a
framework that allows the applications of system 16 to run, such as
the hardware and/or software, e.g., the operating system. In some
implementations, application platform 18 enables creation, managing
and executing one or more applications developed by the provider of
the on-demand database service, users accessing the on-demand
database service via user systems 12, or third party application
developers accessing the on-demand database service via user
systems 12.
[0056] The users of user systems 12 may differ in their respective
capacities, and the capacity of a particular user system 12 might
be entirely determined by permissions (permission levels) for the
current user. For example, where a salesperson is using a
particular user system 12 to interact with system 16, that user
system has the capacities allotted to that salesperson. However,
while an administrator is using that user system to interact with
system 16, that user system has the capacities allotted to that
administrator. In systems with a hierarchical role model, users at
one permission level may have access to applications, data, and
database information accessible by a lower permission level user,
but may not have access to certain applications, database
information, and data accessible by a user at a higher permission
level. Thus, different users will have different capabilities with
regard to accessing and modifying application and database
information, depending on a user's security or permission level,
also called authorization.
[0057] Network 14 is any network or combination of networks of
devices that communicate with one another. For example, network 14
can be any one or any combination of a LAN (local area network),
WAN (wide area network), telephone network, wireless network,
point-to-point network, star network, token ring network, hub
network, or other appropriate configuration. Network 14 can include
a TCP/IP (Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol) network,
such as the global internetwork of networks often referred to as
the "Internet" with a capital "I." The Internet will be used in
many of the examples herein. However, it should be understood that
the networks that the present implementations might use are not so
limited, although TCP/IP is a frequently implemented protocol.
[0058] User systems 12 might communicate with system 16 using
TCP/IP and, at a higher network level, use other common Internet
protocols to communicate, such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an
example where HTTP is used, user system 12 might include an HTTP
client commonly referred to as a "browser" for sending and
receiving HTTP signals to and from an HTTP server at system 16.
Such an HTTP server might be implemented as the sole network
interface 20 between system 16 and network 14, but other techniques
might be used as well or instead. In some implementations, the
network interface 20 between system 16 and network 14 includes load
sharing functionality, such as round-robin HTTP request
distributors to balance loads and distribute incoming HTTP requests
evenly over a plurality of servers. At least for users accessing
system 16, each of the plurality of servers has access to the MTS'
data; however, other alternative configurations may be used
instead.
[0059] In one implementation, system 16, shown in FIG. 1A,
implements a web-based customer relationship management (CRM)
system. For example, in one implementation, system 16 includes
application servers configured to implement and execute CRM
software applications as well as provide related data, code, forms,
web pages and other information to and from user systems 12 and to
store to, and retrieve from, a database system related data,
objects, and Webpage content. With a multi-tenant system, data for
multiple tenants may be stored in the same physical database object
in tenant data storage 22, however, tenant data typically is
arranged in the storage medium(s) of tenant data storage 22 so that
data of one tenant is kept logically separate from that of other
tenants so that one tenant does not have access to another tenant's
data, unless such data is expressly shared. In certain
implementations, system 16 implements applications other than, or
in addition to, a CRM application. For example, system 16 may
provide tenant access to multiple hosted (standard and custom)
applications, including a CRM application. User (or third party
developer) applications, which may or may not include CRM, may be
supported by the application platform 18, which manages creation,
storage of the applications into one or more database objects and
executing of the applications in a virtual machine in the process
space of the system 16.
[0060] One arrangement for elements of system 16 is shown in FIGS.
1A and 1B, including a network interface 20, application platform
18, tenant data storage 22 for tenant data 23, system data storage
24 for system data 25 accessible to system 16 and possibly multiple
tenants, program code 26 for implementing various functions of
system 16, and a process space 28 for executing MTS system
processes and tenant-specific processes, such as running
applications as part of an application hosting service. Additional
processes that may execute on system 16 include database indexing
processes.
[0061] Several elements in the system shown in FIG. 1A include
conventional, well-known elements that are explained only briefly
here. For example, each user system 12 could include a desktop
personal computer, workstation, laptop, PDA, cell phone, or any
wireless access protocol (WAP) enabled device or any other
computing device capable of interfacing directly or indirectly to
the Internet or other network connection. The term "computing
device" is also referred to herein simply as a "computer". User
system 12 typically runs an HTTP client, e.g., a browsing program,
such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, Netscape's Navigator
browser, Opera's browser, or a WAP-enabled browser in the case of a
cell phone, PDA or other wireless device, or the like, allowing a
user (e.g., subscriber of the multi-tenant database system) of user
system 12 to access, process and view information, pages and
applications available to it from system 16 over network 14. Each
user system 12 also typically includes one or more user input
devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, trackball, touch pad, touch
screen, pen or the like, for interacting with a graphical user
interface (GUI) provided by the browser on a display (e.g., a
monitor screen, LCD display, etc.) of the computing device in
conjunction with pages, forms, applications and other information
provided by system 16 or other systems or servers. For example, the
user interface device can be used to access data and applications
hosted by system 16, and to perform searches on stored data, and
otherwise allow a user to interact with various GUI pages that may
be presented to a user. As discussed above, implementations are
suitable for use with the Internet, although other networks can be
used instead of or in addition to the Internet, such as an
intranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a
non-TCP/IP based network, any LAN or WAN or the like.
[0062] According to one implementation, each user system 12 and all
of its components are operator configurable using applications,
such as a browser, including computer code run using a central
processing unit such as an Intel Pentium.RTM. processor or the
like. Similarly, system 16 (and additional instances of an MTS,
where more than one is present) and all of its components might be
operator configurable using application(s) including computer code
to run using processor system 17, which may be implemented to
include a central processing unit, which may include an Intel
Pentium.RTM. processor or the like, and/or multiple processor
units. Non-transitory computer-readable media can have instructions
stored thereon/in, that can be executed by or used to program a
computing device to perform any of the methods of the
implementations described herein. Computer program code 26
implementing instructions for operating and configuring system 16
to intercommunicate and to process web pages, applications and
other data and media content as described herein is preferably
downloadable and stored on a hard disk, but the entire program
code, or portions thereof, may also be stored in any other volatile
or non-volatile memory medium or device as is well known, such as a
ROM or RAM, or provided on any media capable of storing program
code, such as any type of rotating media including floppy disks,
optical discs, digital versatile disk (DVD), compact disk (CD),
microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, and magnetic or optical
cards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or any other
type of computer-readable medium or device suitable for storing
instructions and/or data. Additionally, the entire program code, or
portions thereof, may be transmitted and downloaded from a software
source over a transmission medium, e.g., over the Internet, or from
another server, as is well known, or transmitted over any other
conventional network connection as is well known (e.g., extranet,
VPN, LAN, etc.) using any communication medium and protocols (e.g.,
TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS, Ethernet, etc.) as are well known. It will
also be appreciated that computer code for the disclosed
implementations can be realized in any programming language that
can be executed on a client system and/or server or server system
such as, for example, C, C++, HTML, any other markup language,
Java.TM., JavaScript, ActiveX, any other scripting language, such
as VBScript, and many other programming languages as are well known
may be used. (Java.TM. is a trademark of Sun Microsystems,
Inc.).
[0063] According to some implementations, each system 16 is
configured to provide web pages, forms, applications, data and
media content to user (client) systems 12 to support the access by
user systems 12 as tenants of system 16. As such, system 16
provides security mechanisms to keep each tenant's data separate
unless the data is shared. If more than one MTS is used, they may
be located in close proximity to one another (e.g., in a server
farm located in a single building or campus), or they may be
distributed at locations remote from one another (e.g., one or more
servers located in city A and one or more servers located in city
B). As used herein, each MTS could include one or more logically
and/or physically connected servers distributed locally or across
one or more geographic locations. Additionally, the term "server"
is meant to refer to a computing device or system, including
processing hardware and process space(s), an associated storage
medium such as a memory device or database, and, in some instances,
a database application (e.g., OODBMS or RDBMS) as is well known in
the art. It should also be understood that "server system" and
"server" are often used interchangeably herein. Similarly, the
database objects described herein can be implemented as single
databases, a distributed database, a collection of distributed
databases, a database with redundant online or offline backups or
other redundancies, etc., and might include a distributed database
or storage network and associated processing intelligence.
[0064] FIG. 1B shows a block diagram of an example of some
implementations of elements of FIG. 1A and various possible
interconnections between these elements. That is, FIG. 1B also
illustrates environment 10. However, in FIG. 1B elements of system
16 and various interconnections in some implementations are further
illustrated. FIG. 1B shows that user system 12 may include
processor system 12A, memory system 12B, input system 12C, and
output system 12D. FIG. 1B shows network 14 and system 16. FIG. 1B
also shows that system 16 may include tenant data storage 22,
tenant data 23, system data storage 24, system data 25, User
Interface (UI) 30, Application Program Interface (API) 32, PL/SOQL
34, save routines 36, application setup mechanism 38, applications
servers 1001-100N, system process space 102, tenant process spaces
104, tenant management process space 110, tenant storage space 112,
user storage 114, and application metadata 116. In other
implementations, environment 10 may not have the same elements as
those listed above and/or may have other elements instead of, or in
addition to, those listed above.
[0065] User system 12, network 14, system 16, tenant data storage
22, and system data storage 24 were discussed above in FIG. 1A.
Regarding user system 12, processor system 12A may be any
combination of one or more processors. Memory system 12B may be any
combination of one or more memory devices, short term, and/or long
term memory. Input system 12C may be any combination of input
devices, such as one or more keyboards, mice, trackballs, scanners,
cameras, and/or interfaces to networks. Output system 12D may be
any combination of output devices, such as one or more monitors,
printers, and/or interfaces to networks. As shown by FIG. 1B,
system 16 may include a network interface 20 (of FIG. 1A)
implemented as a set of HTTP application servers 100, an
application platform 18, tenant data storage 22, and system data
storage 24. Also shown is system process space 102, including
individual tenant process spaces 104 and a tenant management
process space 110. Each application server 100 may be configured to
communicate with tenant data storage 22 and the tenant data 23
therein, and system data storage 24 and the system data 25 therein
to serve requests of user systems 12. The tenant data 23 might be
divided into individual tenant storage spaces 112, which can be
either a physical arrangement and/or a logical arrangement of data.
Within each tenant storage space 112, user storage 114 and
application metadata 116 might be similarly allocated for each
user. For example, a copy of a user's most recently used (MRU)
items might be stored to user storage 114. Similarly, a copy of MRU
items for an entire organization that is a tenant might be stored
to tenant storage space 112. A UI 30 provides a user interface and
an API 32 provides an application programmer interface to system 16
resident processes to users and/or developers at user systems 12.
The tenant data and the system data may be stored in various
databases, such as one or more Oracle| databases.
[0066] Application platform 18 includes an application setup
mechanism 38 that supports application developers' creation and
management of applications, which may be saved as metadata into
tenant data storage 22 by save routines 36 for execution by
subscribers as one or more tenant process spaces 104 managed by
tenant management process 110 for example. Invocations to such
applications may be coded using PL/SOQL 34 that provides a
programming language style interface extension to API 32. A
detailed description of some PL/SOQL language implementations is
discussed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,478, titled
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING ACCESS TO DEVELOPED APPLICATIONS VIA
A MULTI-TENANT ON-DEMAND DATABASE SERVICE, by Craig Weissman,
issued on Jun. 1, 2010, and hereby incorporated by reference in its
entirety and for all purposes. Invocations to applications may be
detected by one or more system processes, which manage retrieving
application metadata 116 for the subscriber making the invocation
and executing the metadata as an application in a virtual
machine.
[0067] Each application server 100 may be communicably coupled to
database systems, e.g., having access to system data 25 and tenant
data 23, via a different network connection. For example, one
application server 1001 might be coupled via the network 14 (e.g.,
the Internet), another application server 100N-1 might be coupled
via a direct network link, and another application server 100N
might be coupled by yet a different network connection. Transfer
Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) are typical
protocols for communicating between application servers 100 and the
database system. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the
art that other transport protocols may be used to optimize the
system depending on the network interconnect used.
[0068] In certain implementations, each application server 100 is
configured to handle requests for any user associated with any
organization that is a tenant. Because it is desirable to be able
to add and remove application servers from the server pool at any
time for any reason, there is preferably no server affinity for a
user and/or organization to a specific application server 100. In
one implementation, therefore, an interface system implementing a
load balancing function (e.g., an F5 Big-IP load balancer) is
communicably coupled between the application servers 100 and the
user systems 12 to distribute requests to the application servers
100. In one implementation, the load balancer uses a least
connections algorithm to route user requests to the application
servers 100. Other examples of load balancing algorithms, such as
round robin and observed response time, also can be used. For
example, in certain implementations, three consecutive requests
from the same user could hit three different application servers
100, and three requests from different users could hit the same
application server 100. In this manner, by way of example, system
16 is multi-tenant, wherein system 16 handles storage of, and
access to, different objects, data and applications across
disparate users and organizations.
[0069] As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that
employs a sales force where each salesperson uses system 16 to
manage their sales process. Thus, a user might maintain contact
data, leads data, customer follow-up data, performance data, goals
and progress data, etc., all applicable to that user's personal
sales process (e.g., in tenant data storage 22). In an example of a
MTS arrangement, since all of the data and the applications to
access, view, modify, report, transmit, calculate, etc., can be
maintained and accessed by a user system having nothing more than
network access, the user can manage his or her sales efforts and
cycles from any of many different user systems. For example, if a
salesperson is visiting a customer and the customer has Internet
access in their lobby, the salesperson can obtain critical updates
as to that customer while waiting for the customer to arrive in the
lobby.
[0070] While each user's data might be separate from other users'
data regardless of the employers of each user, some data might be
organization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users
or all of the users for a given organization that is a tenant.
Thus, there might be some data structures managed by system 16 that
are allocated at the tenant level while other data structures might
be managed at the user level. Because an MTS might support multiple
tenants including possible competitors, the MTS should have
security protocols that keep data, applications, and application
use separate. Also, because many tenants may opt for access to an
MTS rather than maintain their own system, redundancy, up-time, and
backup are additional functions that may be implemented in the MTS.
In addition to user-specific data and tenant-specific data, system
16 might also maintain system level data usable by multiple tenants
or other data. Such system level data might include industry
reports, news, postings, and the like that are sharable among
tenants.
[0071] In certain implementations, user systems 12 (which may be
client systems) communicate with application servers 100 to request
and update system-level and tenant-level data from system 16 that
may involve sending one or more queries to tenant data storage 22
and/or system data storage 24. System 16 (e.g., an application
server 100 in system 16) automatically generates one or more SQL
statements (e.g., one or more SQL queries) that are designed to
access the desired information. System data storage 24 may generate
query plans to access the requested data from the database.
[0072] Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of
objects, such as a set of logical tables, containing data fitted
into predefined categories. A "table" is one representation of a
data object, and may be used herein to simplify the conceptual
description of objects and custom objects according to some
implementations. It should be understood that "table" and "object"
may be used interchangeably herein. Each table generally contains
one or more data categories logically arranged as columns or fields
in a viewable schema. Each row or record of a table contains an
instance of data for each category defined by the fields. For
example, a CRM database may include a table that describes a
customer with fields for basic contact information such as name,
address, phone number, fax number, etc. Another table might
describe a purchase order, including fields for information such as
customer, product, sale price, date, etc. In some multi-tenant
database systems, standard entity tables might be provided for use
by all tenants. For CRM database applications, such standard
entities might include tables for case, account, contact, lead, and
opportunity data objects, each containing pre-defined fields. It
should be understood that the word "entity" may also be used
interchangeably herein with "object" and "table".
[0073] In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be
allowed to create and store custom objects, or they may be allowed
to customize standard entities or objects, for example by creating
custom fields for standard objects, including custom index fields.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,779,039, titled CUSTOM ENTITIES
AND FIELDS IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASE SYSTEM, by Weissman et al.,
issued on Aug. 17, 2010, and hereby incorporated by reference in
its entirety and for all purposes, teaches systems and methods for
creating custom objects as well as customizing standard objects in
a multi-tenant database system. In certain implementations, for
example, all custom entity data rows are stored in a single
multi-tenant physical table, which may contain multiple logical
tables per organization. It is transparent to customers that their
multiple "tables" are in fact stored in one large table or that
their data may be stored in the same table as the data of other
customers.
[0074] FIG. 2A shows a system diagram illustrating an example of
architectural components of an on-demand database service
environment 200 according to some implementations. A client machine
located in the cloud 204, generally referring to one or more
networks in combination, as described herein, may communicate with
the on-demand database service environment via one or more edge
routers 208 and 212. A client machine can be any of the examples of
user systems 12 described above. The edge routers may communicate
with one or more core switches 220 and 224 via firewall 216. The
core switches may communicate with a load balancer 228, which may
distribute server load over different pods, such as the pods 240
and 244. The pods 240 and 244, which may each include one or more
servers and/or other computing resources, may perform data
processing and other operations used to provide on-demand services.
Communication with the pods may be conducted via pod switches 232
and 236. Components of the on-demand database service environment
may communicate with a database storage 256 via a database firewall
248 and a database switch 252.
[0075] As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, accessing an on-demand database
service environment may involve communications transmitted among a
variety of different hardware and/or software components. Further,
the on-demand database service environment 200 is a simplified
representation of an actual on-demand database service environment.
For example, while only one or two devices of each type are shown
in FIGS. 2A and 2B, some implementations of an on-demand database
service environment may include anywhere from one to many devices
of each type. Also, the on-demand database service environment need
not include each device shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, or may include
additional devices not shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B.
[0076] Moreover, one or more of the devices in the on-demand
database service environment 200 may be implemented on the same
physical device or on different hardware. Some devices may be
implemented using hardware or a combination of hardware and
software. Thus, terms such as "data processing apparatus,"
"machine," "server" and "device" as used herein are not limited to
a single hardware device, but rather include any hardware and
software configured to provide the described functionality.
[0077] The cloud 204 is intended to refer to a data network or
plurality of data networks, often including the Internet. Client
machines located in the cloud 204 may communicate with the
on-demand database service environment to access services provided
by the on-demand database service environment. For example, client
machines may access the on-demand database service environment to
retrieve, store, edit, and/or process information.
[0078] In some implementations, the edge routers 208 and 212 route
packets between the cloud 204 and other components of the on-demand
database service environment 200. The edge routers 208 and 212 may
employ the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). The BGP is the core
routing protocol of the Internet. The edge routers 208 and 212 may
maintain a table of IP networks or `prefixes`, which designate
network reachability among autonomous systems on the Internet.
[0079] In one or more implementations, the firewall 216 may protect
the inner components of the on-demand database service environment
200 from Internet traffic. The firewall 216 may block, permit, or
deny access to the inner components of the on-demand database
service environment 200 based upon a set of rules and other
criteria. The firewall 216 may act as one or more of a packet
filter, an application gateway, a stateful filter, a proxy server,
or any other type of firewall.
[0080] In some implementations, the core switches 220 and 224 are
high-capacity switches that transfer packets within the on-demand
database service environment 200. The core switches 220 and 224 may
be configured as network bridges that quickly route data between
different components within the on-demand database service
environment. In some implementations, the use of two or more core
switches 220 and 224 may provide redundancy and/or reduced
latency.
[0081] In some implementations, the pods 240 and 244 may perform
the core data processing and service functions provided by the
on-demand database service environment. Each pod may include
various types of hardware and/or software computing resources. An
example of the pod architecture is discussed in greater detail with
reference to FIG. 2B.
[0082] In some implementations, communication between the pods 240
and 244 may be conducted via the pod switches 232 and 236. The pod
switches 232 and 236 may facilitate communication between the pods
240 and 244 and client machines located in the cloud 204, for
example via core switches 220 and 224. Also, the pod switches 232
and 236 may facilitate communication between the pods 240 and 244
and the database storage 256.
[0083] In some implementations, the load balancer 228 may
distribute workload between the pods 240 and 244. Balancing the
on-demand service requests between the pods may assist in improving
the use of resources, increasing throughput, reducing response
times, and/or reducing overhead. The load balancer 228 may include
multilayer switches to analyze and forward traffic.
[0084] In some implementations, access to the database storage 256
may be guarded by a database firewall 248. The database firewall
248 may act as a computer application firewall operating at the
database application layer of a protocol stack. The database
firewall 248 may protect the database storage 256 from application
attacks such as structure query language (SQL) injection, database
rootkits, and unauthorized information disclosure.
[0085] In some implementations, the database firewall 248 may
include a host using one or more forms of reverse proxy services to
proxy traffic before passing it to a gateway router. The database
firewall 248 may inspect the contents of database traffic and block
certain content or database requests. The database firewall 248 may
work on the SQL application level atop the TCP/IP stack, managing
applications' connection to the database or SQL management
interfaces as well as intercepting and enforcing packets traveling
to or from a database network or application interface.
[0086] In some implementations, communication with the database
storage 256 may be conducted via the database switch 252. The
multi-tenant database storage 256 may include more than one
hardware and/or software components for handling database queries.
Accordingly, the database switch 252 may direct database queries
transmitted by other components of the on-demand database service
environment (e.g., the pods 240 and 244) to the correct components
within the database storage 256.
[0087] In some implementations, the database storage 256 is an
on-demand database system shared by many different organizations.
The on-demand database system may employ a multi-tenant approach, a
virtualized approach, or any other type of database approach. An
on-demand database system is discussed in greater detail with
reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B.
[0088] FIG. 2B shows a system diagram further illustrating an
example of architectural components of an on-demand database
service environment according to some implementations. The pod 244
may be used to render services to a user of the on-demand database
service environment 200. In some implementations, each pod may
include a variety of servers and/or other systems. The pod 244
includes one or more content batch servers 264, content search
servers 268, query servers 282, file force servers 286, access
control system (ACS) servers 280, batch servers 284, and app
servers 288. Also, the pod 244 includes database instances 290,
quick file systems (QFS) 292, and indexers 294. In one or more
implementations, some or all communication between the servers in
the pod 244 may be transmitted via the switch 236.
[0089] In some implementations, the app servers 288 may include a
hardware and/or software framework dedicated to the execution of
procedures (e.g., programs, routines, scripts) for supporting the
construction of applications provided by the on-demand database
service environment 200 via the pod 244. In some implementations,
the hardware and/or software framework of an app server 288 is
configured to execute operations of the services described herein,
including performance of the blocks of methods described with
reference to FIGS. 3-9B. In alternative implementations, two or
more app servers 288 may be included and cooperate to perform such
methods, or one or more other servers described herein can be
configured to perform the disclosed methods.
[0090] The content batch servers 264 may handle requests internal
to the pod. These requests may be long-running and/or not tied to a
particular customer. For example, the content batch servers 264 may
handle requests related to log mining, cleanup work, and
maintenance tasks.
[0091] The content search servers 268 may provide query and indexer
functions. For example, the functions provided by the content
search servers 268 may allow users to search through content stored
in the on-demand database service environment.
[0092] The file force servers 286 may manage requests for
information stored in the Fileforce storage 298. The Fileforce
storage 298 may store information such as documents, images, and
basic large objects (BLOBs). By managing requests for information
using the file force servers 286, the image footprint on the
database may be reduced.
[0093] The query servers 282 may be used to retrieve information
from one or more file systems. For example, the query system 282
may receive requests for information from the app servers 288 and
then transmit information queries to the NFS 296 located outside
the pod.
[0094] The pod 244 may share a database instance 290 configured as
a multi-tenant environment in which different organizations share
access to the same database. Additionally, services rendered by the
pod 244 may call upon various hardware and/or software resources.
In some implementations, the ACS servers 280 may control access to
data, hardware resources, or software resources.
[0095] In some implementations, the batch servers 284 may process
batch jobs, which are used to run tasks at specified times. Thus,
the batch servers 284 may transmit instructions to other servers,
such as the app servers 288, to trigger the batch jobs.
[0096] In some implementations, the QFS 292 may be an open source
file system available from Sun Microsystems.RTM. of Santa Clara,
Calif. The QFS may serve as a rapid-access file system for storing
and accessing information available within the pod 244. The QFS 292
may support some volume management capabilities, allowing many
disks to be grouped together into a file system. File system
metadata can be kept on a separate set of disks, which may be
useful for streaming applications where long disk seeks cannot be
tolerated. Thus, the QFS system may communicate with one or more
content search servers 268 and/or indexers 294 to identify,
retrieve, move, and/or update data stored in the network file
systems 296 and/or other storage systems.
[0097] In some implementations, one or more query servers 282 may
communicate with the NFS 296 to retrieve and/or update information
stored outside of the pod 244. The NFS 296 may allow servers
located in the pod 244 to access information to access files over a
network in a manner similar to how local storage is accessed.
[0098] In some implementations, queries from the query servers 222
may be transmitted to the NFS 296 via the load balancer 228, which
may distribute resource requests over various resources available
in the on-demand database service environment. The NFS 296 may also
communicate with the QFS 292 to update the information stored on
the NFS 296 and/or to provide information to the QFS 292 for use by
servers located within the pod 244.
[0099] In some implementations, the pod may include one or more
database instances 290. The database instance 290 may transmit
information to the QFS 292. When information is transmitted to the
QFS, it may be available for use by servers within the pod 244
without using an additional database call.
[0100] In some implementations, database information may be
transmitted to the indexer 294. Indexer 294 may provide an index of
information available in the database 290 and/or QFS 292. The index
information may be provided to file force servers 286 and/or the
QFS 292.
[0101] III. Displaying Content of an Enterprise Social Network Feed
on a Mobile Device
[0102] FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example of a computer
implemented method 300 for displaying content of an enterprise
social network feed on a mobile device, according to some
implementations. The method 300 can be performed by or using any
suitable computing device, computing system or any number of
computing devices or systems that may cooperate to perform the
method 300. In some implementations, each of the blocks of the
method 300 can be performed wholly or partially by or using the
database system 16 of FIGS. 1A and 1B, or other suitable devices or
components (including processors) described herein, or the
like.
[0103] In FIG. 3, at block 304, a computing device such as a server
or a mobile device operated by a user receives a request to display
a parent container feed associated with a parent object in a
hierarchical model of objects stored in a database of an on-demand
service environment. The parent container feed is configured to
include feed items identifying information updates associated with
the parent object. The parent container feed may also be configured
to include feed items based on information updates associated with
one or more child objects related to the parent object in the
hierarchical model.
[0104] Because a parent container feed, in addition to including
feed items reporting updates to the parent object, also includes
feed items reporting updates to one or more child objects of the
parent object, the container feed can be differentiated from a
dedicated feed associated with an object, which only displays
updates directly pertaining to the object. For example, a parent
container feed for the Acme, Inc. account would include feed items
with record updates to or posts regarding the Acme, Inc. account
and include feed items related to cases, opportunities, leads,
etc., which are child objects of the Acme, Inc. account. However, a
feed dedicated to the Acme, Inc. account, referred to herein as the
Acme, Inc. account feed, would include feed items with record
updates to or posts regarding the Acme, Inc. account but exclude
feed items related to cases, opportunities, leads, etc. of the
Acme, Inc. account. By the same token, each child object of the
Acme, Inc. account can have a dedicated feed with feed items
reporting updates to only that child object.
[0105] A parent container feed may be based on any parent object
having one or more child objects in the on-demand service
environment. An account container feed is an example of a parent
container feed because an account has child objects, such as cases,
opportunities, and leads, and updates to those child objects may be
rolled up into the account container feed. In some implementations,
an opportunity may be a parent object with child objects such as a
task or an event. Any of the various objects disclosed herein can
serve as a parent object. Thus, a parent container feed can be in
the form of: an account container feed, an opportunity container
feed, a contact container feed, a lead container feed, a case
container feed, a report container feed, a task container feed, an
event container feed, a dashboard container feed, and an asset
container feed, by way of non-limiting example. As an example of an
opportunity container feed, an opportunity may be associated with
one or more tasks, wherein the opportunity is a parent object and
the tasks are child objects. As such, updates to the one or more
child tasks for the parent opportunity may be rolled up and
displayed in the opportunity container feed. In some
implementations, a child object can be in the form of a standard
CRM object or a custom object having a child relationship with a
parent object such as an account. In some implementations, a first
child object may have a child relationship with only one parent
object in the hierarchical model. As an example, an opportunity may
only be related with a single account object. In other
implementations, a first child object may have a child relationship
with a plurality of parent objects in the hierarchical model.
[0106] In some implementations, one or more feed items displayed as
part of a feed in a user interface on a display of a mobile device
is graphically represented in the form of a "card", also referred
to herein as a "mobile card." In one non-limiting example, a mobile
card can be configured to include information updates to or
regarding properties of the parent object. Other examples of mobile
cards are illustrated in the Figures and described in greater
detail below.
[0107] The feed items reporting information updates associated with
a child object may summarize any number of information updates to
or about the child object. For example, the information updates may
identify three different tasks assigned to the user for an
opportunity, which is a child of a parent account object. In some
implementations, the three tasks may be displayed in a task list in
a single feed item in the account container feed.
[0108] FIG. 5 shows an example of a graphical user interface (GUI)
displaying an account container feed, according to some
implementations. FIG. 5 illustrates an example of an account
container feed 500 for Acme, Inc. showing various mobile cards 510,
520, 530, 540, 550, 560, 570 and 580. Some of the cards include
content directly related to the Acme, Inc. account, while other
cards include content with updates to or about objects related to
the Acme, Inc. account, such as child opportunities and contacts of
the Acme, Inc. account. Each of the mobile cards of FIG. 5 may be
browsed on a mobile device by swiping among the mobile cards. In
some implementations, the mobile cards are presented in FIG. 5 as a
scroll in a vertical or horizontal sequence. The first mobile card
510 displays information about an opportunity named "Acme 500
Widgets", which is a child of the Acme, Inc. account. The first
mobile card 510 may display a note 512 describing a phone call
about the "Acme 500 Widgets" opportunity and indicate a number of
information updates 514 reported by the first mobile card 510. A
"show more" button 516 may cause the first mobile card 510 to
expand to display more detailed information about the note 512 and
updates 514 about the "Acme 500 Widgets" opportunity. An
opportunity icon 518 indicates that the information displayed in
the mobile card is associated with an opportunity object, as
opposed to the account object associated with the account container
feed.
[0109] FIGS. 6A-6E show examples of expanded views of individual
feed items of an account container feed, according to some
implementations. FIG. 6A shows an example 610 of an expanded view
of the first mobile card 510 of FIG. 5. The expanded view shows the
three information updates 618 associated with the note 612, which
is an expanded view of note 512 of FIG. 5. The three information
updates 618 may include comments posted by other users in response
to the note 612 created by Mark Greenberg.
[0110] Returning to FIG. 5, the second mobile card 520 displays a
task list for an opportunity, "Acme, Inc. 20 k Units", which is a
child of the Acme, Inc. account. The task list includes a "Call
Jerry Thomas" task 522, a "Compile Q4 report . . . " task 524, and
a "Follow-up call with . . . " task 526. The clumped task list also
includes a "View all" selection 528 that may cause the second
mobile card 520 to be expanded to view all of the tasks in the
list. FIG. 6B shows an example 620 of an expanded view of the
second mobile card 520 of FIG. 5. The expanded view displays all of
the tasks of the task list, along with notifications 622, 624, 626
and 628 of any number of updates for a given task. As a result, a
viewing user may work directly from this expanded view and be
provided with relevant updates for this opportunity via the account
container feed.
[0111] Returning to FIG. 5, the third mobile card 530 displays a
"hero post" with an indication that the value for the "Acme 500 k
Widgets" opportunity has been changed to $10,000,000. The third
mobile card 530 also indicates a user, "Anthony Morse," who was the
salesperson responsible for the opportunity value change and a
number of information updates 534 associated with the change. FIG.
6C shows an example 630 of an expanded view of the third mobile
card 530 of FIG. 5. The expanded view displays the three
information updates 632 associated with the opportunity value
change. The expanded view may also provide additional information
regarding users working on the opportunity who participated on work
resulting in the opportunity value change. The font, style, color,
and design of the hero post may be customized by users of the
on-demand service environment to highlight the hero post and
distinguish it from other contents of the account container feed
500 of FIG. 5.
[0112] Returning to FIG. 5, the fourth mobile card 540 displays a
notification that indicates that five new contacts--Marc Jacobson,
Emily Waters, Allison Weston, and two others--have been added as
child objects to the Acme, Inc. account. The notification also
indicates that there are three information updates 542 associated
with the Emily Waters contact. Instead of displaying five separate
mobile cards to indicate that each contact has been added, the
information has been summarized in a single card 540. In some
implementations, a card may utilize a specific color assigned for
the particular type of record, such as tasks or contacts, so that
the viewing user may quickly scan the feed to find relevant
content. FIG. 6D shows an example 640 of an expanded view of the
fourth mobile card 540 of FIG. 5. The expanded view shows each of
the five new contacts 642, 644, etc. with additional information
related to each contact, such as the contact's position within the
company, specific contact information, and information updates
associated with each contact. In some implementations, selecting
one of the five contacts in the expanded view may retrieve details
of that particular contact to be displayed in a single mobile
card.
[0113] Returning to FIG. 5, the fifth mobile card 550 displays
notes 552 for a particular contact, "Jason Alexander." As an
example, the user John Doe 554 may have met with Jason Alexander
and created notes in the contact record for Jason Alexander.
[0114] In FIG. 5, the sixth and seventh mobile cards 560 and 570
display different types of notifications. The sixth mobile card 560
is for the opportunity "Acme 500 Widgets" associated with the Acme,
Inc. account. This card 560 is in the form of a hero post
indicating that the value for the "Acme 500 Widgets" opportunity
increased by 160%. The seventh mobile card 570 displays a
notification for an "Acme 3 k Widgets" opportunity, which is
another child object of the Acme, Inc. account feed, and the
notification indicates that the close date for the opportunity has
been changed to the second quarter of next year.
[0115] In FIG. 5, the eighth mobile card 580 displays previews of
one or more files 582, 584 related to the Acme, Inc. account. The
files in this example were uploaded as attachments to posts by
"John Davidson" 586, a user of the on-demand service environment.
Upon selection of the card 580, the user may be presented with the
attached files in an immersive display in some implementations.
FIG. 6E shows an example 680 of what may be presented to a user in
the mobile device display when one of the attached files is
selected for display.
[0116] Returning to the Acme, Inc. account container feed 500, the
first, second, third, sixth and seventh mobile cards 510, 520, 530,
560 and 570 display information from updates to or about
opportunities which are child objects of the Acme, Inc. account.
Updates regarding the "Acme 500 Widgets", "Acme, Inc. 20 k Units",
and "Acme 3 k Widgets" opportunities have been rolled up into the
Acme, Inc. account container feed. The fifth mobile card 550
displays an update to a contact record that is a child of the Acme,
Inc. account. The fourth and eighth mobile cards 540 and 580 of the
account container feed 500 display information from updates
associated with the Acme, Inc. account. In the case of the fourth
540 and eighth 580 mobile cards, the mobile cards provide a summary
of one or more information updates of the parent Acme, Inc. account
object. These updates for the parent account object are displayed
in a single Acme, Inc. parent container feed along with the updates
for the child opportunities--"Acme 500 Widgets," "Acme, Inc. 20 k
Units," and "Acme 3 k Widgets." One or more criteria may be used to
determine whether to display any of these mobile cards in the
account container feed. These criteria are discussed further below
with respect to block 316 of FIG. 3.
[0117] FIG. 7 shows an example of a GUI 700 displaying an
opportunity feed, according to some implementations. FIG. 7
illustrates an example of an Opportunity Feed 700 for the "Acme,
Inc. 500 Widgets" opportunity showing various mobile cards 710,
720, 730, 740, 750, 760 and 770 displaying on a mobile device
content related to the "Acme, Inc. 500 Widgets" opportunity.
[0118] The first mobile card 710 displays a note created by Mark
Greenberg for the "Acme, Inc. 500 Widgets" opportunity. FIGS. 8A-8D
show examples of expanded views of individual mobile cards of an
opportunity feed, according to some implementations. FIG. 8A shows
an example 810 of an expanded view of the first mobile card 710 of
FIG. 7. The expanded view provides additional information related
to the note created by Mark Greenberg. When the note is rolled up
into the parent account container feed, the mobile card may display
a portion of the content of the note. When the note is displayed in
the Opportunity Feed 700, more social context may be provided, such
as users associated with the note, and additional information
updates associated with the note. Selecting the mobile card
containing the note of the child opportunity in the account
container feed may cause the feed of the child opportunity to be
displayed, which may provide more social information related to the
note.
[0119] In FIG. 7, the second mobile card 720 displays a hero post
indicating a 160% increase in opportunity value for the "Acme, Inc.
500 Widgets" opportunity. In this example, the second mobile card
720 displayed in the opportunity feed corresponds to the sixth
mobile card 560 displayed in the parent account container feed of
FIG. 5. Because the "Acme, Inc. 500 Widgets" opportunity is a child
of the Acme, Inc. account, the second mobile card 720 may be rolled
up into the Acme, Inc. account container feed. In some
implementations, selecting the sixth mobile card 560 of the account
container feed 500 may cause the opportunity feed 700, and in
particular the second mobile card 720, to be displayed on the
mobile device. Selecting the second mobile card 720 may cause the
mobile card to expand and display additional information related to
the opportunity value increase.
[0120] The third mobile card 730 displays previews of one or more
attachments or files 582, 584 related to the "Acme Inc. 500
Widgets" opportunity. The attachments in this example were uploaded
by John Davidson, a user of the on-demand service environment. Upon
selection of the card, the user may be presented with the attached
files in an immersive display on the mobile device. FIG. 8B shows
an example 830 of what may be presented to a user in the mobile
device display when one of the attached files is selected for
display.
[0121] Returning to FIG. 7, the fourth mobile card 740 is a
notification for two tasks 742, 744 associated with the user Mark
Greenberg. As an example, Mark Greenberg may have assigned two
tasks to the viewing user. Alternatively, Mark Greenberg may have
created two tasks for the "Acme, Inc. 500 Widgets" opportunity that
are visible to the viewing user. FIG. 8C shows an example 840 of
what may be presented to the user when the fourth mobile card 740
is selected. The expanded view 840 displays the two tasks, as well
as one or more information updates related to the tasks.
[0122] Returning to FIG. 7, the fifth mobile card 750 is a
notification displaying two different actions associated with the
user Mary Jansen. Here, she has created a contact "Marc Jacobsen"
752, and created a task "Compile Q4 repot . . . " 754. FIG. 8D
shows an example 850 of what may be presented to the user when the
fifth mobile card 750 is selected. The expanded view 850 displays
the two actions and additionally provides two information updates
associated with the actions. Instead of two separate posts, the
on-demand service environment may provide this notification to
include both updates related to Mary Jansen.
[0123] Returning to FIG. 7, the sixth mobile card 760 indicates an
opportunity value increase of 85% for the "Acme Inc. 500 Widgets"
opportunity.
[0124] FIGS. 9A-9B show examples of a GUI displaying information
updates for an object of an on-demand service environment,
according to some implementations. FIG. 9A shows an example of how
an opportunity "Commercial Jet 777 to Obama", which is a child
object of the Obama parent account, may be displayed in an account
container feed for the Obama parent account on a mobile device. The
first mobile card 910, which is a hero post indicating that the
child opportunity was closed and won by Terry Young, may be
displayed in the container feed. By scrolling or swiping, other
mobile cards related to the opportunity may be viewed by the user,
such as a comment by Betty Young 912, changes to the opportunity
made by Terry Young 914, and a summary of other users interacting
with the opportunity 916. For a user browsing the Obama parent
account, the hero post, which was rolled up from the "Commercial
Jet 777 to Obama" child opportunity allows the user to quickly view
relevant information for this opportunity associated with the Obama
account.
[0125] FIG. 9B shows an example of how information updates for a
group "Boeing Jet Sales group", which is a child object of the
parent Boeing account, may be rolled up into an account container
feed for the Boeing account. A hero post 920 may appear in the
Boeing account container feed indicating that there are 17 recent
updates to the child Boeing Jet Sales group, with a summary of the
most active users in the group. Again, by scrolling or swiping the
hero post, the user may view the various updates for the group made
by members of the group. In some implementations, a relevancy
algorithm may be used to identify and display the most relevant
cards in order of relevance. For example, the cards may be
displayed in order of how recently they were created. In this
example, swiping the hero post may display the comment made by
Madison Rigsby 922, followed by the files attached by Terry Young
924, and the article attached by Jonathan Shultz 926. In this way,
the most relevant information for the Boeing Jet Sales group may be
rolled up into the parent account container feed for a user to view
without having to individually open up the dedicated feed
associated specifically with the Being Jet Sales group.
[0126] Returning to FIG. 3, at block 308, the computing device
performing method 300 identifies, based on one or more of a
plurality of criteria, a first plurality of information updates
associated with a first child object. The first child object has a
child relationship with the parent object in the hierarchical
model.
[0127] In some implementations, the one or more criteria may
indicate one or more of: a position, a role, or a personalization
setting. Depending on the position of the user in the company,
certain types of information updates may be selected to be
displayed in the parent container feed. For example, a top
executive of a company may be more interested in high-level updates
for an account than detailed day-to-day updates. As such, the one
or more criteria may identify comments made by higher level
managers as more relevant for a top executive user. Alternatively,
the criteria might identify closed and won opportunities for the
account as relevant information for a top executive user. Also, the
criteria might identify new tasks as irrelevant for a top executive
user browsing the account container feed.
[0128] In another implementation, a user of the on-demand service
environment may identify certain types of information updates that
he is interested in viewing. For example, a user may be interested
in updates associated with cases, but not opportunities, and may
designate that updates to cases associated with the parent account
object be displayed in the parent account container feed. A user
may indicate this preference as part of the user's set of
personalization options. In some implementations, the user's
account settings may include personalization options for rolling up
particular types of updates into a parent container feed.
[0129] In some implementations, one of the criteria may identify a
property of the first child object, wherein the one criterion is
satisfied when an information update indicates a change to the
identified property. In some implementations, another criterion may
identify a threshold value for changes to the identified property,
wherein the other criterion is satisfied when the change to the
identified property meets or exceeds the threshold value.
[0130] As an example, a hero post may be generated based on a
predetermined trigger, such as an opportunity value or a percentage
change in opportunity value. For example, the threshold value for
the opportunity value may be $1,000,000, such that updates that
result in the opportunity value exceeding $1,000,000 may be rolled
up and included in the parent container feed. As another example,
the threshold may be a 100% increase in opportunity value, such
that updates that result in the opportunity value increasing by
more than 100% may be included in the parent container feed.
Referring back to FIG. 7, there are two mobile cards 720 and 760 in
the opportunity feed that display percentage increases in
opportunity value. In that example, the threshold value for rolling
up the mobile card into the account container feed may be 100%. As
such, the account container feed of FIG. 5 only displays the 160%
increase in a mobile card 560, and the update including the 85%
increase does not get rolled up into the parent account container
feed.
[0131] As another example, the identified property of the first
child object may be the closing date of an opportunity, such that
when an update involves a change to the closing date of an
opportunity, that update may be rolled up into the account
container feed. For example, in FIG. 5, mobile card 570 displays
the close date for the "Acme 3 k Widgets" opportunity moving to the
first quarter (Q1). In this example, there may be a criterion
designating the close date attribute of child opportunities as an
attribute to track and roll up into the parent account container
feed.
[0132] In some implementations, one of the criteria may identify a
child object type, wherein the criterion is satisfied when an
information update indicates creating, deleting, or updating a
child object having the child object type. As an example, the
criteria may specify that all new child opportunities for a parent
account should be rolled up into the account container feed. As
another example, all opportunities that are closed or removed
should also be rolled up into the account container feed. In FIG.
5, the fourth mobile card 540 shows five new contacts that were
created in association with the account. In this example, the
criteria may designate the contact object type, such that updates
to child contacts for a parent account should be rolled up into the
account container feed.
[0133] In some implementations, the one or more criteria may
indicate a timestamp of an information update, a count of
information updates, a type of information updates, an author of an
information update, a count of published comments associated with
an information update, and a count of shares of an information
update. As an example, specific interactions with particular record
types, such as notes on a contact determined to be a decision maker
for an opportunity, may be rolled up and displayed in a mobile card
of the parent container feed. Any of these properties of the
information updates may be utilized in criteria for determining
which information updates should be identified for publication in
the parent container feed.
[0134] In FIG. 3, at block 312, the computing device performing
method 300 identifies a second plurality of information updates
associated with the parent object. FIG. 5 provides some examples of
information updates associated with the parent object that may be
identified, such as new contacts for the account 540 or files
attached to the account 580. In some implementations, the second
plurality of information updates may include one or more updates to
particular attribute fields of the parent object. A user of the
on-demand environment may designate which of the attribute fields
of the parent object should be "tracked"; that is, for which
attributes should an information update be generated when the
attribute value changes. For example, a user may designate that the
attribute fields that he is interested in tracking for an account
object are the account billing address and the account type (e.g.
Customer, Competitor, or Partner).
[0135] In FIG. 3, at block 316, the computing device performing
method 300 generates a set of feed items representing the first set
of information updates. For example, in FIG. 6, the second mobile
card 520 shows six tasks for an opportunity that have been grouped
into a single mobile card for display in the container feed. In
another implementation, updates may be grouped by a particular user
that is common to the updates. For example, if a user creates a new
contact and creates a new task, both of those updates may be
provided in a single card in the parent container feed. In yet
another implementation, updates may be grouped by timestamp,
wherein all updates within the past minute, hour, or day, are
grouped in a single card.
[0136] In some implementations, a first child feed item may include
information indicating one or more of: a change in a property of
the first child object, creation of the first child object, or
deletion of the first child object. In another implementation, the
first child feed item may include one or more indicators configured
to graphically differentiate the first child feed item from other
feed items of the parent container feed when the parent container
feed is displayed. As an example, the hero post 530 of FIG. 5 is
highlighted in a different color to graphically differentiate the
hero post from the cards of the account container feed.
[0137] In FIG. 3, at block 320, the computing device performing
method 300 generates a second set of feed items identifying the
second plurality of information updates. The updates may be grouped
within the feed items in a manner similar to the methods described
in block 316 of FIG. 3.
[0138] In FIG. 3, at block 324, the computing device performing
method 300 displays, on the mobile device, the first and second
sets of feed items in the parent container feed. In some
implementations, the feed items are displayed on the display of a
mobile device. The user may browse the feed items on the mobile
device by swiping or scrolling between the feed items. Depending on
the size of the display, a feed item may contain a summarized or
collapsed version of the information in the updates. Selecting a
feed item may cause an expanded version of the feed item to be
displayed on the mobile device, allowing the user to see more
information.
[0139] FIGS. 4A-4C show flowcharts of examples of
computer-implemented methods 430A-430C for receiving a selection in
accordance with method 300, according to some implementations. The
methods 430A-430C can be performed by or using any suitable
computing device, computing system or any number of computing
devices or systems that may cooperate to perform the methods
430A-430C. In some implementations, each of the blocks of a method
of FIGS. 4A-4C can be performed wholly or partially by or using the
database system 16 of FIGS. 1A and 1B, or other suitable devices or
components (including processors) described herein, or the
like.
[0140] In FIG. 4A, at block 432, the computing device performing
method 430A receives a selection of the first child feed item, the
first child feed item having a collapsed view. The collapsed view
may provide some information from the updates identified in the
first child feed item. In some implementations, on a mobile device,
the received selection may be a result of the user pressing or
clicking on the first child feed item in the display.
[0141] In FIG. 4A, at block 434, the computing device performing
method 430A provides for display an expanded view of the first
child feed item. The expanded view may identify one or more
additional information updates not appearing in the collapsed view
of the first child feed item. As an example, a user viewing the
account container feed of FIG. 5 may select the first mobile card
510 for expansion by selecting the show more button 516. As a
result, the user's device may display the mobile card 610 of FIG.
6A, which provides additional information related to the note on
the opportunity 518 embodied in the mobile card 510 created by Mark
Greenberg and illustrated in FIG. 5.
[0142] In FIG. 4B, at block 436, the computing device performing
method 430B receives a selection of the first child feed item, as
generally described above in block 432 of FIG. 4A.
[0143] In FIG. 4B, at block 438, the computing device performing
method 430B provides for display a child feed including only child
feed items identifying information updates associated with the
first child object. As an example, a user viewing the account
container feed of FIG. 5 may navigate to the "Acme Inc. 500
Widgets" opportunity feed by selecting the "Acme 500 Widgets"
opportunity name on the first mobile card 510, which is a rolled up
card from the "Acme Inc. 500 Widgets" opportunity feed. As a
result, the user's display may display the opportunity feed 700 for
the "Acme Inc. 500 Widgets" opportunity.
[0144] In FIG. 4C, at block 440, the computing device performing
method 430C receives a request via a create command to create a
second child object related to the first child object from the
parent container feed. As an example, a user viewing an update for
an opportunity within an account container feed may select a create
command requesting that a new contact for the opportunity be
created. The create command may be presented to the user in a menu
of actions that may be performed from the account container
feed.
[0145] In FIG. 4C, at block 442, the computing device performing
method 430C creates the second child object, the second child
object including one or more attributes determined based on the
information in the request to create the second child object.
Continuing the example above in block 440, the user, when he
selects the create command requesting to create a new contact for
the opportunity, may be presented with one or more attribute fields
for the new contact, such as name, email, and phone number. The
user may provide these attributes and request that a new contact
object be created and associated with the opportunity. Instead of
having to switch over to the opportunity feed to create the new
contact, the user may create the new contact within the account
container feed via the rolled up opportunity feed item. In this
way, a user may interact with different child feeds from the parent
container feed without having to drill into each child feed to
perform actions associated with the child object.
[0146] The specific details of the specific aspects of
implementations disclosed herein may be combined in any suitable
manner without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosed
implementations. However, other implementations may be directed to
specific implementations relating to each individual aspect, or
specific combinations of these individual aspects.
[0147] While the disclosed examples are often described herein with
reference to an implementation in which an on-demand database
service environment is implemented in a system having an
application server providing a front end for an on-demand database
service capable of supporting multiple tenants, the present
implementations are not limited to multi-tenant databases nor
deployment on application servers. Implementations may be practiced
using other database architectures, i.e., ORACLE.RTM., DB2.RTM. by
IBM and the like without departing from the scope of the
implementations claimed.
[0148] It should be understood that some of the disclosed
implementations can be embodied in the form of control logic using
hardware and/or using computer software in a modular or integrated
manner. Other ways and/or methods are possible using hardware and a
combination of hardware and software.
[0149] Any of the software components or functions described in
this application may be implemented as software code to be executed
by a processor using any suitable computer language such as, for
example, Java, C++ or Perl using, for example, conventional or
object-oriented techniques. The software code may be stored as a
series of instructions or commands on a computer-readable medium
for storage and/or transmission, suitable media include random
access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a magnetic medium
such as a hard-drive or a floppy disk, or an optical medium such as
a compact disk (CD) or DVD (digital versatile disk), flash memory,
and the like. The computer-readable medium may be any combination
of such storage or transmission devices. Computer-readable media
encoded with the software/program code may be packaged with a
compatible device or provided separately from other devices (e.g.,
via Internet download). Any such computer-readable medium may
reside on or within a single computing device or an entire computer
system, and may be among other computer-readable media within a
system or network. A computer system, or other computing device,
may include a monitor, printer, or other suitable display for
providing any of the results mentioned herein to a user.
[0150] While various implementations have been described herein, it
should be understood that they have been presented by way of
example only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of
the present application should not be limited by any of the
implementations described herein, but should be defined only in
accordance with the following and later-submitted claims and their
equivalents.
* * * * *